Read Online Rearing Wolves to Our Own Destruction: Slavery in Richmond Virginia, 1782–1865 by Midori Takagi - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Midori Takagi
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Slaves who were hired out to businesses generally were allowed to secure lodgings apart from both owner and employer. This meant bondmen living apart resided in a variety of dwellings such as boardinghouses owned by white or free black proprietors, or they rented small shacklike houses behind wealthier white residents' homes. Sometimes they stayed with family members who worked as domestic servants. Through this system Pleasant, who was hired to Mr. Smity, was able to live with his mother, who lived in her owner's house. 14 And Ned, who belonged to Robert Greenhow, stayed with his wife Lucy, a slave nurse owned by Robert Scott. Each night after work, Ned returned to Lucy's room in Scott's home. 15 Later as the system of living apart became more standard, slave workers found they could use their board money to move even farther away from owners and employers by
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renting houses and tenements, by themselves or with family members. The ability to live apart and stay with relatives was of great importance to many city slaves because it allowed them to be with their loved ones and helped them keep their families together.
Other aspects of life, such as diet, also were determined by a slave's working situation and place of residence. Domestic servants often ate the leftovers from their owner's meal or were fed a separate meal specially prepared for them by the cook. As one slave maid explained, "I worked in de house for old Miss, and we had plenty to do and plenty to eat. When de white folks was through eatin', I got a pan and got de grub, and set on de floor and eat it." 16 Because they shared meals with their owners, household slaves probably ate a fairly good mixture of meat, grains, and vegetables. Account books and shopping lists for a typical middling white household during the nineteenth century frequently included coffee, sugar, meat and poultry, vegetables, fresh fruit in season, and bread. 17 Although no slave was guaranteed such a diverse and steady diet, a domestic servant was fairly likely to receive some of these foods, while a factory bondmen probably would receive much more limited rations from his employer or overseer.
Slaves working in construction were among those who frequently ate a much less varied diet. Companies generally served their slaves simple meals consisting of pork or fresh beef, when available, and cornmeal. In comparison to a "typical" nineteenth-century slave diet, as described by historian Sam Hilliard, company meals lacked the usual supplements of sweet potatoes and other vegetables. 18 Fresh vegetables, fruits, and coffee were rarely available to these industrial slaves. In fact, company records indicate that some slaves received a diet that offered little more than subsistence. The Richmond Mining Company fed its workers only dried beef and cornmeal. Slaves working for the canal company ate a similar diet, although its sick workers received fresh bread in addition. 19 Records from the late antebellum era show that rations for slave workers at least those working for the city government eventually became standardized, though hardly diverse. The rations city slave workers received were laid out clearly in the contracts between the city council and the firm of Burwell and Sampson. These workers were to receive "3 lbs of bacon, one & half pecks of corn meal, one quart of molasses . . . quarter of a pound soap, and one gill of salt" at unspecified intervals. 20
Slaves who lived apart were expected to fend for themselves when it came to food. Though some factories provided their workers with one meal a day, hired slaves generally had to purchase and prepare their own meals with their board money. 21 While this ostensibly gave slaves greater choice, the small sums given by employers typically limited purchases to
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foods that were cheap and filling, such as bread, cabbage, and potatoes. Some slaves with extra cash earned from overtime bonuses were able to supplement their diets
Page 41
renting houses and tenements, by themselves or with family members. The ability to live apart and stay with relatives was of great importance to many city slaves because it allowed them to be with their loved ones and helped them keep their families together.
Other aspects of life, such as diet, also were determined by a slave's working situation and place of residence. Domestic servants often ate the leftovers from their owner's meal or were fed a separate meal specially prepared for them by the cook. As one slave maid explained, "I worked in de house for old Miss, and we had plenty to do and plenty to eat. When de white folks was through eatin', I got a pan and got de grub, and set on de floor and eat it." 16 Because they shared meals with their owners, household slaves probably ate a fairly good mixture of meat, grains, and vegetables. Account books and shopping lists for a typical middling white household during the nineteenth century frequently included coffee, sugar, meat and poultry, vegetables, fresh fruit in season, and bread. 17 Although no slave was guaranteed such a diverse and steady diet, a domestic servant was fairly likely to receive some of these foods, while a factory bondmen probably would receive much more limited rations from his employer or overseer.
Slaves working in construction were among those who frequently ate a much less varied diet. Companies generally served their slaves simple meals consisting of pork or fresh beef, when available, and cornmeal. In comparison to a "typical" nineteenth-century slave diet, as described by historian Sam Hilliard, company meals lacked the usual supplements of sweet potatoes and other vegetables. 18 Fresh vegetables, fruits, and coffee were rarely available to these industrial slaves. In fact, company records indicate that some slaves received a diet that offered little more than subsistence. The Richmond Mining Company fed its workers only dried beef and cornmeal. Slaves working for the canal company ate a similar diet, although its sick workers received fresh bread in addition. 19 Records from the late antebellum era show that rations for slave workers at least those working for the city government eventually became standardized, though hardly diverse. The rations city slave workers received were laid out clearly in the contracts between the city council and the firm of Burwell and Sampson. These workers were to receive "3 lbs of bacon, one & half pecks of corn meal, one quart of molasses . . . quarter of a pound soap, and one gill of salt" at unspecified intervals. 20
Slaves who lived apart were expected to fend for themselves when it came to food. Though some factories provided their workers with one meal a day, hired slaves generally had to purchase and prepare their own meals with their board money. 21 While this ostensibly gave slaves greater choice, the small sums given by employers typically limited purchases to
Page 42
foods that were cheap and filling, such as bread, cabbage, and potatoes. Some slaves with extra cash earned from overtime bonuses were able to supplement their diets
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